The Best One Yet - 🥷 “Make $1K Today” — Car Negotiation 101. Super Chip Smuggling. Fancy Steak Insurance. +Umass’ Michelin food

Episode Date: March 23, 2026

A YouTube star makes $2.4M negotiating car prices like a ninja… Here’s his top negotiating tip.Texas Roadhouse beat Olive Garden despite record beef prices… because of Steak Insurance.Wildest AI scandal of the year?... A founder smuggling Nvidia chips to China with a blowdryer.Plus, UMass-Amherst didn’t make March Madness… but their dining hall is #1.$TXRH $DRI $SMCIBuy tickets to The IPO Tour (our In-Person Offering) TODAYNew York, NY (4/8): https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0000637AE43ED0C2Los Angeles, CA (6/3): SOLD OUTGet your TBOY Yeti Doll gift here: https://tboypod.com/shop/product/economic-support-yeti-doll NEWSLETTER:https://tboypod.com/newsletter OUR 2ND SHOW:Want more business storytelling from us? Check our weekly deepdive show, The Best Idea Yet: The untold origin story of the products you're obsessed with. Listen for free to The Best Idea Yet: https://wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/NEW LISTENERSFill out our 2 minute survey: https://qualtricsxm88y5r986q.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dp1FDYiJgt6lHy6GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Linkedin (Nick): https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/Linkedin (Jack): https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ About Us: The daily pop-biz news show making today’s top stories your business. Formerly known as Robinhood Snacks, The Best One Yet is hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, March 26. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. All right, Jack, first week of spring. How is Wall Street celebrating this one? You know, we got six inches of snow on the first day of spring. Not celebrating this one. No, no, stocks fell for a fourth straight week. The NASDAQ briefly went into correction territory on Friday. How do you want to sum this up, Jack? Oils up. Stocks are down. Came in like a line, March. Going out like a lot. A lizard, Jack. Three fantastic stories for today's T-Boy. What do we got on the pot? For our first story, a guy on YouTube makes 200 grand a month negotiating your car price for a $1,000 fee. So Jack and I are sharing our 10-second negotiation trick that saved us $4,000. Twice. This is negotiating ninjas. For our second story, one of America's AI giants was charged with three counts of criminal chip smuggling.

Wild, super micro-employees used a blow dryer to smuggle invidia chips into China. And our third and final story. Steakhouses across the country are crushing it right now, despite steak being more expensive than ever. So how is Texas Roadhouse beating Olive Garden well? It's thanks to steak insurance. But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. I mean, no one else is doing the mix.

I love the mix, perfect mix, Jack. Did you watch the March Madness this weekend? I mean, did I watch the Madness? Jack, 99.99.999% of brackets are busted already. But there's one team winning the tournament even though they're not in it. UMass Amherst. Because UMass Amherst has the number one ranked food across college campuses by far. Vesties, cafeteria food is so hot right now over UMass Amherst.

They got a red velvet rope you can't even get into this place. That's according to the annual Princeton Review Survey, which says UMass Amherst has the best campus food again. We jumped in T-boy style to the dining hall, hand-rolled sushi, an Indian Tandori station. They went full Michelin' Chef on this. They got a surf and turf that is cooked to your liking, medium rare to well done. Not just noodle bowls and build your own omelet bars. Get this, UMass Amherst

boiled 15,000 lobsters last year. 15,000. That's why 87% of students are on the meal plan. That's an all-time high. Even faculty joined the meal plan and have all meals there. And locals are doing date nights at UMass Amherst. They're called the Minutemen, but you're going to need more than a minute to eat that chicken pot pie. More anything, more everything. Although Nick and I went to a college that had the best dining perk ever. I mean, all you can eat always, no questions asked. Where do I sign, Jack?

Even the locals could go into Middlebury College's dining halls and just eat whatever you want. That's how we skip the freshman 15 went straight to the senior 16th. They didn't win March Madness, but UMass Amher's won Munchy Madness. Because Bestie is the best way to a parent's wallet is through a student's stomach.

Let's in our three stories. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one. yet, but the best is an norm. That's it is. 50% that's a fat tip.

Tea Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, because we're ready to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, delivered is a five-person company that makes 2.4 million bucks a year negotiating the price of your new car. It shows how much money you can make by asking one more question. But best is funny thing Jack and I have noticed.

There's one thing that unites all Americans across politics, ages, lifestyles, what is it, Jack? The fact that none of us like the car buying experience in America. 90% of Americans hate the car buying process. Even if you grew up in a city like me and never have bought a car, I still hate the car buying process. Because the price is not the price at a car dealership. An interesting reason why. What is it, Jack? Let's dive into some contextual history, please. Like a hundred years ago when Detroit was just beginning, GM and Ford did

not have the money to build out a dealership network across the country. So a century ago, they let the franchises do it, independent businesses that can set their own prices to sell Ford and General Motors cars. Over the years, those franchises became powerful, and they lobbied states to ban the car companies from ever doing direct sales. They wanted to establish themselves as permanent middlemen. That's why still today, you can only buy a new car through an independent dealership, not owned by the actual car company. Now, we should point out, Tesla and other electric car companies have successfully lobbied for an exception to that rule. But most of them, they're independent small businesses,

which is why the price is not the price, my friend. Each dealership chooses their own price. They don't take their lead from Ford or Ferrari. No, they do not. And the price they choose, Jack, what about it? I mean, it's totally up for negotiation. Right, right, Jack. You know, most people are averse to confrontation.

So you take the first offer that you get. But not Tommy McCoolah. Tommy McCoolah, a man with 800,000. followers on social media because he will negotiate for you for a flat fee of $1,000. He's a bit of a masochist because like those awkward pauses between like a price negotiation. He loves that stuff. His startup delivered actually can charge $1,000 per deal because he can save his customers more than a thousand bucks per a car deal. Much more than a thousand bucks because he knows the tricks of the car dealership trade. And why is that, Jack? He's worked his

entire adult life in the car industry. That's right. He's kind of like a double agent, you know, like how the CIA's greatest threat isn't a Russian spy. It's an ex-CIA spy. So the Wall Street Journal profile this guy, who often livestreams his phone calls that he's having with salesmen for clients. And this 33-year-old can't be tricked because he arms himself with the data. The key is to negotiate, you have to anticipate the next point. So the dealer might say, oh, you want that model? That's super popular. That's going to be expensive. Okay, but then what would he say in response, Jack? They'll say, actually, there's 27 available within just a 15-mile radius of here. He did the research knowing that question was coming and knew there was more supply than they said.

Tommy even has a bingo card for the expected things he knows the dealers will say to him. So basically he's got a rebuttal prepared for each, which he then flexes on social media. And thanks to the appeal of paying $1,000 to save $4,000, business has been good. Yeah, actually the last day of February, when dealers need to hit their targets before the end of the month, he tried to negotiate 30 card deals. It's got to be a record. He only got to 18, but his business is. is making $200,000 a month now.

Yeah, you always got to round up. So he's going to clear $2.4 million as a negotiating ninja for nervous nancies. No, we should point out. Some dealers are recognizing his voice, like they're hanging up on him as soon as they hear that accent. I'm not dealing with this guy. I'm not going to make any profit off a car if I do. So this entrepreneur has actually bought a voice-changing device so that the car dealers won't know who he is.

He's got to go anonymous. Like serial killers, he scrambles his voice on the phone. I was thinking James Bond, but yeah, we can go dark on that one if you want, Jack. So AI can give you a script right now that you can use to negotiate the car price yourself. But like we said, people are averse to confrontation. Which leads to our takeaway, Jack, what do I got to do to get you into this takeaway, by going? So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who want to be negotiating ninjas? Negotiation is sometimes simply asking one more question.

One more question. And it can save you thousands. Jack, let's sprinkle on some context. 2018, you bought a lovely Volkswagen, and we called her Rosie. We still do. How did this deal go down and how did you save a thousand bucks? All right, so I got an offer for both the new car and the trade-in, and it was going to be $12,000 out of pocket for me.

Okay, but then what did your father-in-law tell you? He said, Jack, take a minute and call the other dealership. Tell them what offer you've got and see if they can beat it. Nick, they beat it by $4,000. All right, but then a couple years later, you consider trading in Rosie the V-dub for a Toyota, and what happened then? So I got a $10,000 trade-in value for Rosie, and I was like, that's way off. I have a Kelly Blue Book statement right here telling me it's worth $16,000.

And then what happened? That one sentence got him to raise his offer for the trade-in to $14,000. Uh, Yiddies, do you hear that? Two separate stories where one extra question save Jack $4,000. Maybe it's a job offer you just got. Write a good email about why you deserve $5,000 more. Maybe it's a hotel room you booked. I love doing these.

You just ask, is there a free upgrade of? Is there a room available for early checking? Just got to ask the question. Maybe your wife wants a son in the backyard. Don't take the first offer. Make sure you call the other company and see what they can do for you. Basties negotiation doesn't have to give you the ick. It can be as simple as asking one more question.

One more question can be worth thousands of dollars. Just ask any negotiating ninja. For our second story, it's chip smuggling. Super Micro, one of the winners of the AI boom was just charged with a criminal conspiracy to illegally smuggle invidia chips into China. The black market these days isn't blow. It's Blackwells. Not mesties. You see, some criminal indictments, they just read like Hollywood screenplays to us, right, Jack? We loved reading this one. Here's the log line. A Silicon Valley insider smuggles

$2.5 billion of banned AI chips into China and gets caught on camera using a hair dryer to cover it up. Paging Michael Bay. Paging Michael Bay. Hey, Tom Cruise, you have a script. reading right now. All right. So that indictment dropped on Friday and two suspects are under arrest. A 71 year old co-founder of Super Micro and a 44 year old fixer at the same company. We should warn you, however, a 53-year-old

general manager of Super Micro Taiwan has been charged but remains at large. He's the fugitive. Like we said, the best fiction sounds like non-fiction and the best non-fiction. It reads like fiction. Now to sprinkle on some context, as the AI revolution began a few years ago,

A key strategic goal of the United States was to beat China in the race to superintelligence or AGI. Just like the key goal in the 1940s was to make the nuclear bomb before Germany would. So we banned the export of Nvidia chips and other key inputs to make sure they don't get to China. Ah, the Nvidia chip, the key ingredient to AI. But in November 2024, the FBI got this TikTok video forward to them. Chinese entrepreneur boasting on a TikTok video that he had Nvidia's best chips. Hey guys, I got the good stuff.

He wasn't supposed to have the good stuff. So the DOJ, the FBI, and the Commerce Department started investigating. And now they have found that those smuggled GPUs, those smuggled chips, were from Super Micro. And here's how the bad guys allegedly did it, according to that indictment. Super Micro sold made in the USA data servers to a company based in Southeast Asia, either Malaysia, Singapore, or Thailand. We're not sure which country, but it's one of those three, because those were the Southeast Asian countries near China that were not banned from this. export restriction. And then that company in Southeast Asia sold them to the real buyer, a company secretly based in China. But to cover their tracks, Super Micro created fake dummy servers that

that company can store in their warehouse in case the authorities come by. And to cover their tracks even further, they went and did something even wilder, Jack. The fixer used a blow dryer to remove serial number plates from real invidia-packed servers and put those plates on the fake ones to make the dummies look even more real. I mean, Jack, I can picture the Hollywood version of this now. They probably have like Anne Hathaway in that role, right? Yeah, I can picture her like blow-drying the evidence to tamper with it. I mean, it feels like it's part of the real movie it would happen.

And this all highlights kind of rule number one of commerce. Yeah, international commerce, if you will. If you ban something, a black market will emerge for that thing. So now the co-founder of Super Micro and two other guys are facing jail time for smuggling our best chips over into China. And Super Micro Stock filled 32% on news of this alleged conspiracy from their co-founder. And here's a direct quote from that co-founder, Yetis.

This is from Scooby-Doo. I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you and those crazy kids. Jack wants the takeaway for our Hollywood buddies over at Super Micro. The Sherlock Holmes of America is stock market short-sellers because they're paid to be right first. Yeties, back in August of 2024,

a hedge fund alleged that Super Micro had, quote-unquote, glaring accounting red flags. and sanctions and export control failures. That was Hindenburg research. And then a few months later, Ernst & Young refused to be Super Micro's auditor anymore for similar reasons. These two firms had announced that Super Micro was up to no good months before that TikTok video of the Chinese entrepreneur boasting about his smuggled H-100 Nvidia computer chips. It's a shame that law enforcement couldn't stop the company back then.

I know, right, man. But our justice system requires proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, so we couldn't do anything until now. It takes time to collect evidence, but these hedge funds, they have a financial incentive to point out when something is wrong. And they don't have to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. And that besties is how Wall Street discovers white-collar crimes before the FBI can. Short sellers are like Sherlock Holmes. They get paid to find out and to find out early. Now a quick word from our sponsor.

For our third and final story, despite steak becoming a luxury item, Texas Roadhouse is selling more steak than ever, and they're beating olive garden. Because Texas Roadhouse isn't selling steak. They sell steak insurance. All right, Basties, Jack, and I got your backs. And here's the deal. If you really want to impress your date this week, then hire a nanny,

go to a gas station to fill up, and buy a rib-eye. Because child care, gas, and steaks have never been more expensive. Especially steak. That chuck ain't cheap these days, guys. Now, if the date is like your wife or your husband, don't do any of that stuff

because they're going to be like, why are you wasting all this money? Yeah, but peak prices. They're up 72% of five years to all-time high. Steak, we're calling it. It's the new caviar. Steak in particular is $13 a pound on average in this country, which is a record high up from seven bucks per pound just a few years ago. Everything is filet mignon these days. It is the air maze of eating. And it's not just that this country has a short supply of cattle.

Which we do. It's that we have a big demand for beef. Protein maxing beef bros and rib-eye babes. You know who you are, and you're driving up steak prices. So with steak now a luxury expensive item. One company is winning. Texas Roadhouse. Texas Roadhouse. There's stocks near an all-time high. They're worth 12 billion bucks. That is two lifts, guys. Nick, when you walk into a Texas roadhouse, you see the raw meat behind some glass and you point to the steak that you aren't cooked later tonight. I'm sorry, Jack, you don't walk into a Texas Roadhouse. Texas Roadhouse walks into you. And it's actually become the number one sit-down restaurant by revenue beating the Olive Garden. But Bessies, here's what we find fascinating. Despite the cost of steak rising, Texas Roadhouse

is not raising prices, and they're still profitable? The founder of Texas Roadhouse actually deserves some glazing from us right now. An MBA from North Carolina Chapel Hill, he side hustled working at TGIF, TGI Fridays, as a waiter while he went through his college. He had a restaurant idea, and after 80 investor rejections, he got a $300,000 in seed funding from three Kentucky doctors. Because he's from Kentucky. He's not from Texas.

He opened up Texas Roadhouse in 1993 and IPOed the business in 2004. And it became the Olive Garden of grilled ribs. They said no to breadsticks, yes, to drumsticks. But how is this company making $400 million in annual profit when their key ingredient steak has nearly doubled in cost? I mean, Jack, they've got a $19 product, a steak dinner. That's still $19? According to the founder, it's thanks to finding pennies everywhere.

That's right, finding pennies, lots of little savings and revenue boosters that add up. Like free unlimited peanuts. What's the strategy behind free unlimited peanuts, Jack? matter how many peanuts you eat, you won't be full. And it's also a lot of work, so you're getting hungry after all those calories you burn. You got to open up the shells by yourself. And all that saltiness, it actually makes you more thirsty so you order your second beer because you got all these free peanuts. Or how about this one? After 33 years, still no delivery at Texas Roadhouse. Texas Roadhouse won't dooredash you a T-bone no matter what high fee you could charge.

Because they know you'll order more food if you come in, you'll sit down at a table, you'll order a drink with buddies. Now, all of that is fascinating. But the real reason why Texas Roadhouse is eating Olive Garden's lunch is one psychological trick. So Jack, as the former wine salesman of the month at the Olive Garden, what is the takeaway for our buddies over at Texas Roadhouse? The more expensive the steak, the more you want steak insurance. Ah, steak insurance. Yet he's interesting phenomenon here. At the same time that Texas Roadhouse's sales are rising, sales of steaks in grocery stores are actually falling. You'd think that with steak prices so high, would trade down to a grocery store steak and cook it at home to save some money.

But you'd be wrong because cooking steak at home includes one very big risk. You overcook the steak. Yeah, you might save 50% by cooking your own steak, but there's a 50% chance you screw it up and ruined dinner. We've all set off the fire alarm because we were cooking a steak. We all tried it, we've all been there. And a chewy steak that you spend a lot of money on is so disappointed. That's the equivalent of saying lick on the pod.

But besties, at a restaurant, there's an 100% chance you get your steak cooked right. and even if you don't, you'll send it back to get it cooked right. And thus reveals psychonomics. Steak is a high stakes game. If you're going to spend a lot on it, you'll want to get it right. So you'll pay a premium, like an insurance policy, for a restaurant steak cooked right. Steak insurance.

It explains why grocery steak sales are down, but Texas Roadhouse steaks are up. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? Delivered is a lucrative business negotiating car prices for people and marketing it on social. Because simply asking one more question can be worth thousands. For our second story, super microstock fell 32% on word that their co-founder is in a chip-smuggling international conspiracy. But like Sherlock Holmes, it was short sellers on Wall Street who found out first.

And our third and final story is Texas Roadhouse. It's become America's number one sit-down restaurant by sales. Because steak's a luxury in this economy. And if you're going to have steak, you want steak insurance. But besties, this pod's not over. Here's what else you need to know today. First, signing off, CBS News is ending CBS Radio, ending a 100-year broadcasting legacy. World News Tonight is syndicated to 700 radio stations in America, including right here in Vermont.

And the longest-running daily news program in our nation's history, we all heard it growing up. You can picture all of these radio sounds. In New York City, it was 880. I'd listen to it all the way up from Vermont because my dad, for some reason, wanted to hear New York weather and traffic together. Now I'm thinking about 10-10 wins news, Jack. But Barry Wise, the new boss of CBS News, is ending CBS radio as well as laying off 6% of staff. Sad day for CBS, we're thinking about the Yetis who worked there. And second, there are three Tesla headlines from last week.

You may have missed all pretty wild. First, 10 years after announcing it, Tesla finally launched their semi-pickup truck. Sorry, not pickup truck. Giant 18-wheeler truck. This thing is huge. And second, three million of Tesla cars are being investigated by the Fed regulators for self-driving features that can't see in the rain or fog. Allegedly. And third, they're being sued for the name Cybercab. Yeah, this is pretty funny. Apparently, a French wine company owns the name Cybercab,

as in Cabernet. And finally, BTS is back from the army. That's right, the hit K-pop boy band, the Sajie boys, but in real life, and not evil, by the way, it's B.T.S. Well, four years ago, BTS was huge, but they paused their musical career because the members of the boy band had mandatory military service in South Korea. That's right. But on Friday, they're now back like butter, baby. The biggest military musical moments since Elvis returned from the Army from 1958 to 1960. The time for today's best fact yet, which, because it's Monday, means T-Boy Insider Trivia. What do we got, Jack? On Friday, we got the world happiness rankings. And once again, Finland is the happiest country in the world. He can't beat those Finns. Iceland is number two, Denmark's number three, Costa Rica number four,

and Sweden rounds out the top five. But our T-Boy trivia, question for you today. What variable is the biggest determiner of your happiness level? Is it the quality of your food? Is it the weather? Is it social media screen time? Or is it how good your national soccer team is? Which one of those four determines a country's happiness most? We got a poll going on Spotify right now or drop your thoughts in the comments. Yiddies, you're looking fantastic to kick off the week. Jack, you are glowing right now? And what do you think would be the best way to kick off the week? All right, so here's the deal. We just secured our special guest for our New York show on April 8th.

When we announce it, the tickets are going to sell out. So you should buy your tickets right now to upstream everybody who's going to buy tickets when we say who we got. It's a little insider knowledge of sharing with the Yetis right now. I like it, Jack. Just to quote that tweet Donald Trump did on April 9th, now is a good time to buy stocks. Yeties, you can grab your tickets in the link in this episode's description. The New York Live Tour, the IPO tour, April 8th, New York City. our in-person offering.

A happy birthday to legendary Yeti, Santiago Aguilar in San Diego, who's turned 14 and already has a YouTube channel. Check it out at Hifty 1. And happy 8th birthday to Arden Lowe in Bronxville, who's on his way to school, rapping our jingle with his sister Hazel May. And Ritim Singh,

happy birthday over New York, New Jersey, celebrating in Shenandoah National Park. That is just lovely. And happy birthday to Percy Calderon in Orlando, Florida. And Carter Patel, enjoy that fourth birthday. Congratulations on the big number and to your parents. over New Jersey. And Daniel Ruiz just got accepted for an MBA for business analytics at CSU East Bay. Congratulations, Daniel. Happy seven-year anniversary to David and McKaley in Sherwood, Oregon.

And Keanu-Ly! Just passed the CPA exam in West Covina, California. Congrats Kiana. Bon voyage to Pace and Deceiver, starting their hike through the PCT. 2,600 miles more to go. And Jack, this one's special and legendary. Ashley, Sweetta, Katie, Grace, Molly, Sophie, and Lauren, all work together in in luxury marketing, and they started a T-Boy group chat, the T-Boy Group Chat. It's the T-Boy Office fan club of New York City. Okay, we cannot wait to me at the New York Live show. Guys, thanks so much for whipping up all those tapegoes in the group chat.

We're pumped to have you with us. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Netflix and Ford, and Nick and I both on stock in Spotify.